Policymakers, child care providers, and parents face tradeoffs in determining how much to spend on child care, including how many hours to purchase, and the features of programs that might influence quality. Given these tradeoffs, it is useful to understand what constitutes quality, the cost of care features associated with quality, the effects of…

Early childhood educators are key players in shaping young children's active behavior. However, their involvement in children's physical activity (PA) may vary along a continuum, ranging from active participation to distant supervision. This qualitative study sought to explore how childcare directors and early childhood educators (ECEs) perceive…

Children frequently select learning sources based on epistemic cues, or cues pertaining to informants' knowledge. Previous research has shown that preschoolers preferentially learn from informants who have been accurate in the past, appear confident, or have had visual access to relevant information. The present series of studies aimed to…

In this paper, I craft a methodological orientation for attending to the intricacies of everyday place encounters in early childhood settings with particular attention to settler colonialism and more-than-human entanglements. Drawing from my work with children and educators in childcare settings located in what is now British Columbia, Canada, I…

Through the course of Indigenous history, cultural and spiritual knowledge remains, in many places as faint as the smoke rising from the embers of last night's fire; in other places, with enough flame to ignite another log. In spite of the genocidal acts portrayed through colonialism's experimentation through religious doctrine, residential…

Using case study methodology including weekly focus group meetings and individual interviews, this article reports results of a study in a Canadian childcare centre in which four educators shared their attitudes and experiences on their role as educators and on building relationships with the children transitioning into their care and their…

The Wheels Project took place from January to March, 2012 in a junior kindergarten/kindergarten classroom at the St. Nicholas location of Owl Child Care Services of Ontario in Waterloo. Owl Child Care Services, a nonprofit registered charity, operates seven centers in Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, Ontario. Owl is one of the largest…

In December, 2013, revised Alberta child care accreditation standards were released by the Alberta Government in Canada that included a new standard for physical activity and sedentary behavior in accredited child care settings. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the new accreditation standard in increasing physical…

This article examines the prosociality of four-year-old girls and boys in childcare centres. More specifically, it aims to measure gender differences in prosociality among children, based on three sources and methods of evaluation: (1) the early childhood educator's (ECE) perception (perceived prosociality), (2) the children's own responses to…

Background: A large number of children are currently living in Alternative Care. The relationship they establish with their temporary caregivers can play a significant role in their development. However, little has been published regarding attachment with temporary Caregivers. Objective: The aim of this review is to analyse the existing published…

Background: Access to quality child care is an important support for families with children with disabilities. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the current state of inclusion of children with special needs in child care programmes, and (2) the presence of child care staff practices and programme characteristics that support…

Purpose: This study aimed to: (a) compare the physical activity (PA) levels (i.e., moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA] and total PA [TPA]) of preschoolers in 3 different early-learning environments (center-based childcare, home-based childcare, and full-day kindergarten [FDK]); and (b) assess which characteristics (e.g., play equipment, policies, etc.)…

This paper aims to describe the quality of play as offered by early childhood educators working with four-year-olds within an educational childcare service. It also aims to identify the correlation between the quality of play support and a child's cognitive, language and socio-emotional development. Finally, it focuses on the factors associated…

The objective of this study was to examine how quantity, type, and quality of care interact in predicting externalizing and internalizing behaviors of 36-month-old children attending Quebec's educational child care from their first years of life. To do so, the authors examined two hypothesized models: (1) a mediation model where quantity, type,…

Research Findings: The amount and quality of communication between staff and guardians in child care centers was examined using extensive naturalistic observations. Interactions between staff and more than 1,000 guardians who dropped their child off at their child care center were captured through a series of 20-s time-sampled observations.…